FORMER Celtic midfielder Arne Engels suffered in his West Ham debut as his new team collapsed 2-1 to Charlton in front of a sell-out crowd of 62,500 at the London Stadium yesterday.
The Belgium international playmaker, signed by the Hammers for £22million earlier this month, failed to hit the ground running, but, in fairness, the club’s big-money recruit was given little opportunity to shine on this occasion.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side even blew the opportunity of a stoppage-time equaliser as Valentin Castellanos as he smacked the post with his wayward penalty-kick.
Engels flitted around in the style that persuaded the Hoops to spend a record £11million to recruit him from Bundesliga outfit Augsburg two years ago, but he was virtually ignored by his new team-mates as they toiled for the second successive weekend.
THE LAST HURRAH…Arne Engels on the ball in his final Celtic appearance as the champions enjoy a 5-1 romp against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park earlier this month.
The Hammers, huge favourites to go straight back in to the Premier League after last season’s relegation, threw away a 2-0 lead against Burnley to draw 2-2 at Turf Moor the previous weekend.
Charlton captain Lloyd Jones opened the scoring with a seventh-minute overhead-kick n to bounce inside their penalty area.
Eleven minutes after the interval, Tyreece Campbell lashed in the strike that secured the points.
Engels’ fellow-debutant Joel Piroe hit the London side’s consolation goal in the 74th minute before Castellanos spurned the chance of an equaliser in the 93rd minutes.
Disappointed boss Espirito Santo, speaking to the BBC, said: “We got punished from situations we knew Charlton would create problems from.
“We were not accurate enough in the boxes. We have to defend better. The boys tried until the end.
“We trust Taty Castellanos to take the penalties. I don’t know whether he will for the next game – we have to decide.”
Someone might want to point out to the manager that £22million man Engels is fairly adept from the spot.
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